The Haitian Revolution in the Literary Imagination: Radical Horizons, Conservative Constraints

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments The ideas behind The Haitian Revolution in the Literary Imagination began to take shape while I was studying for an M.A. and then a Ph.D at the Universities of Sussex and Warwick, respectively. At Warwick, it was my privilege to enjoy the supervision of Benita Parry. I could not have wished for a more inspiring or committed mentor, and my life continues to be deeply enriched by her friendship, affection, and wisdom. At Sussex, I was fortunate enough to be taught by Marcus Wood. Marcus has also selflessly given time, energy, and inspiration to this project; his friendship and his deep understanding of slavery and its inheritance have had a profound influence on me and are, I hope, to some degree reflected in this manuscript. The translating of mere ideas into a book was undertaken from 2010 to 2013, while I was a trainee solicitor at Darbys LLP (2010–12) and then teaching and researching at Warwick University School of Law (2012–). Again, I am especially grateful to Benita Parry, whose attentive readings of countless drafts of chapters during this period were invaluable in helping me to refine the book’s ideas and arguments. The longstanding support and critique of Charles Forsdick and Neil Lazarus also helped me to strengthen the ideas I put forward in this book. Pablo Mukherjee provided comradely support and encouragement, helping me to shape my beliefs about life and work along the way. David Alderson offered encouragement, friendship, and advice that were vital to this project. Michael Largey generously provided me with an audio recording of the opera Troubled Island, and read and commented on chapter 2. Conversations and correspondence exchanged with Kimathi Donkor influenced my thought and writing in chapter 4. Nick Lawrence and Rashmi Varma offered encouragement and invaluable advice at various stages. Prithi Kanakamedala and Krista Kauffmann sustained me with xii Acknowledgments humor and friendship from afar. And Jonathan Holyoak, Phil Marshall, and Charles de Segundo helped me to keep on at it. At the University of Virginia Press, I thank J. Michael Dash and Cathie Brettschneider in particular. Cathie has been a knowledgeable, enthusiastic , and efficient collaborator from the outset and kept faith in this project through the long process of revisions. In addition, Ellen Satrom provided essential editorial support, and Raennah Mitchell always kept me in the loop. The staff of the Press have been a genuine pleasure to work with, and their hard work has improved this manuscript. I also thank the two anonymous readers whose incisive reports on earlier versions of this manuscript made important and illuminating suggestions which I have done my best to take on board. I also wish to thank Tim Roberts and Susan Murray at the Modern Language Initiative for their hard work. Without the tireless assistance of the librarians and staff of the University Library, Warwick; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and the British Library, London, this book could never have been researched and written. In addition, the staff at the Amistad Research Center, New Orleans; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the Châteaux de Malmaison , Rueil-Malmaison; the Châteaux de Versailles; the Louvre Museum; and the Berlin-Brandenburg Foundation were all helpful and efficient in responding to my requests for reproductions of artworks in their holdings. However, in particular, I must thank Christopher Harter , Director of Library and Reference Services at the Amistad Research Center, for his assistance and for making the Jacob Lawrence Toussaint L’Ouverture serigraphs available to me when I visited. I must also thank Maureen Bourne, Warwick University’s Visual Resources Curator, for producing splendid reproductions of all the commemorative postage stamps featured in this book. At Warwick, my new colleagues, without exception, have been nothing but supportive and encouraging. However, Paul Raffield and Andrew Williams both deserve special mention, as do Alan Norrie, Rebecca Probert, and Illan rua Wall, who have all offered valuable advice and support in the latter stages of this project. I thank Alexander Ffye and Andrea Selleri for their meticulous proofreading. The administrative help of Rosemary le Breton Bagley, Hannah Chappell, Emily West, and Jenny Wilson smoothed my encounters with scanners, photocopiers, and couriers. I benefitted from excellent feedback at seminars and workshops too numerous to list. An earlier version of chapter 1 appeared in Law and xiii Acknowledgments Humanities 6, no. 2 (Winter 2012): 197–216; I am grateful to the editors at Hart Publishing for granting...